Saturday, June 25, 2016

Aboleth Progress

I got a lot of progress in on this figure, not least by keeping the color scheme simple. A deep turquoise body (basecoat of Reaper Deep Ocean, highlighted Marine Teal, final highlight Aqua Surf) with fleshy undersides to the tentacles (Dusty Rose Red, drybrushed Fair Highlight) and around the mouth, and bright orange membranes to the pectoral and pelvic fins (basecoat Phoenix Red, highlighted Fire Orange) - similar, though brighter, than the 3.5 edition illustration that is the default Aboleth in my mind. There's still a little bit of work to be done on this figure - picking out the claws on the fins and some touch-up work mostly - and then I need to figure out what I want to do about a base for him. I would love to not have to buy an entire bag of Games Workshop flying bases to have one to mount him on for a "swimming" display; I might sculpt some coral or a strange obelisk on to a base and prop him on top of that.

I also remembered to actually take step-by-step photos this time, so here we go!

The first round of body highlights - Reaper Marine Teal brushed over the Deep Ocean basecoat.

Second round of body highlights - Aqua Surf brushed lightly over, to pick up the detail.

Basecoat of Phoenix Red applied to the fins.

Dusty Rose Red applied to the tentacles and mouth.

Fins highlighted with Fire Orange.

Picked out the eyes (all 11 of them!) in Pale Green.

Detailing the mouth and suckers with Fair Highlight.

There's a chance I'll finish him today and be able to begin work on the base; I also treated myself at the game store last night (and I left the Aboleth on the table while I was gone to prove how well-behaved Atticus is!) and picked up Reaper's Jabberwock, from their Pathfinder miniatures line, as my next project. I just need a beamish boy to oppose him...

Thank you Michael! Would you believe that this is going to be my first dragon? While from a cost and weight perspective I'm glad I got the Bones version of the Jabberwock, part of me wishes I'd gotten the metal version - the antennae and barbels on the face are proving very difficult to repose.

I'm still going to need to do some puttying work, though the fit on the pieces is for the most part excellent - just some gaps around the wing joints.